Balotelli-Bale Series Book #4: THE OTHER MAN PART 1

Chapter 61: Cheers To Painful Goodbyes

Keira's POV
The apology Theo pushed for was given late in the evening. He still thinks we should scare them with a lawsuit. I'm starting to learn that Theo doesn't back away from a confrontation. He lives for it! It excites him! But the most attractive quality I find in him is how he gets things done. When he says it will be done, it is done.

But as much as I was happy to be cleared from the murder charges, the apology cannot remove the stain on my name. I may not have killed Jason, but I did have an affair with a married man. That will stay with me for a long time to come.

I'm packing up my mother's and father's things. They wanted their clothing to go to charity in case anything ever happened to them. My father's clothes are uneventful. Blue, White and grey shirts are pretty much it. The most adventurous shirt is a red and white flannel mom bought him. He wore it once. As for my mom, she wore nothing but designer labels. I have picked out a few of her clothes that I'll keep to myself. Some of them are $2000 cashmere sweaters. I love those. I can still smell her scent in them. I have cried for each sweater I smelt, each dress that held a memory and now I'm winding up.

If I choose to stay, I won't stay in this house long. I'll move to Austin, Texas and get an apartment. It Will be a nice change. But I'm also considering Theo's offer. Marseille is far far away from my troubles. Something is nudging me in that direction. But before I decide, I want to try and speak to Nick. If the conversation goes well, I'll tell him about the baby. I still want to tell him but I will also not accept to be taken back out of pity or responsibility.

"Mademoiselle. Visitor." Theo assigned me two maids to help me pack up my parents and Keith's belongings. She is the one who talks like she's singing. She has a beautiful voice a smile to match it. Her name is Margarit.

"Who is it?"

"It's just me." Marianna beamed at me. "Can you talk?"

"Yes." I got up to receive a hug from her. "Have a seat. I'm sorry about the mess. I'm packing."

"Are you going somewhere?"

I have three options. To stay here with Nick if he wants me. To move to Texas and give life a try on my own. To explore what Theo has to offer in Marseille.

"Probably. But the rest are my parents and brother's. I'm giving them away."

She sat on the edge of the bed. I sat beside her, partly on the sweaters I'm keeping.

"I didn't know your mother that well but I'm so sorry for what has happened. When I lost my mother, I wasn't even aware if it. I was far from home and when my father told me I just didn't know what to feel. I know it hurt but I couldn't express myself. We used to fight like cats. Shout and scream at each other. But at the last moments, I felt her love. We're you close to your mother?"

"Yes. But I was closer to my father."

"Daddy's girl!" She exclaimed in infectious laughter. "Me too! I love my padre! We are tight. I can't imagine losing him." See he sighed deeply.

I want to ask her how Nick is.

"How is Nick?"

She made a face and shook her head. "I keep going back to what Nick has done to you and I ask myself where I went wrong as a mother. I didn't teach him to pursue married women. I didn't. So where did he learn that? I blame myself for not sending you home when you showed up at the villa. I should have been firm and said no to theme relationship. But who am I kidding? When he wants something he chases it to the ends of the earth. There's a lot that shouldn't have happened. But it did and now we are... here. He's an alcoholic, you have lost everything and now you are... leaving."